Vice President Yemi Osinbajo says the late Queen Elizabeth III was a stabilising force who brought people together in life and death.
“The assembly of leaders from different parts of the world is a testament to the sort of person the Queen was – she was a stabilising force who brought people together in life and death and perhaps even more so in death,” the Vice President said in London while attending the funeral of the late Queen.
Osinbajo represented Nigeria at the Queen’s burial and was there with other African leaders to pay the last respect to the Queen, who died on Thursday, September 8, at the age of 96 after spending more than 70 years on the throne.
There were outcries after images surfaced on social media of how African leaders at the funeral were lumped in a bus compared to the first-class treatment given to other world leaders.
But the Nigerian Vice President said that the presence of world leaders at the event was an assurance to King Charles that “there is brotherhood across the world and that the Commonwealth remains strong.”
“Asides the honour of having many people attend the funeral, I am sure King Charles also felt the reassurance that there is a brotherhood across the world and that the Commonwealth remains strong, this time a Commonwealth of free nations who willingly subscribe to coming together, to work together to achieve sometimes disparate political objectives but clear economic objectives. We wish King Charles very well, and I think we are all anxious that he succeeds and that he perhaps does even better than his mum.”
“I am certain that the Queen hopes that all her successors will do better than she did. We all look forward to a wonderful reign, a reign that will bring prosperity, and peace, not just to England but to the Commonwealth and all of us.”
